Huckabee puts chances of a 2016 run at 50-50, wades into 'Duck Dynasty' controversy

CNN

CNN

Sunday, December 22, 2013 - 2:31pm

(CNN) — Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said Sunday there's about a 50-50 chance he'll run for president again in 2016.

The former Arkansas governor said he would make a final decision after next year's midterm elections.

"I would say maybe at this point it is 50-50. I don't know. I don't know that I can put a percentage on it," Huckabee said on "Fox News Sunday."

"It would be a decision of the heart," he said "I've tried to be honest in all my evaluations, not only back in 2011, but even now, so when people ask me, 'Are you open to the possibilities?' the honest answer is yes."

The 2008 presidential candidate opted out of running this past presidential cycle but in recent interviews has left the door open to another bid for the White House.

In recent weeks, Huckabee has met with groups from the politically important early voting states of Iowa and South Carolina. He told the Washington Post that groups he hadn't received support from in the past are encouraging him to launch another campaign, though Sunday he denied intentionally planting ideas of a future presidential run.

Huckabee, a pastor, also weighed in on controversial comments by "Duck Dynasty" TV star Phil Robertson in an interview with GQ magazine about same-sex marriage, saying that homosexuality is as much of a sin as lust.

"I think it's come to a point in our culture where political correctness has made it so if you want to take a point of view that is traditional, that holds to a steadfast, old-fashioned biblical, Christian values - which are also, by the way, values of traditional Judaism and even Islam - and somehow you're just supposed to shut up and keep that to yourself," he said, noting President Barack Obama's changed in position on the issue.

Huckabee pointed to a "new level of bullying on the part of these militant activist groups," as reason for Robertson's suspension by A&E, referring to groups like the Human Rights Campaign, which urged the network to suspend the star.

But Huckabee conceded that Robertson's comments would have been "more appropriate for the duck woods than it would be for the pages of a major news magazine."

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